Posted by tomw on June 22, 2003, 12:47 pm, in reply to "Looking for a good guitar for slide and old-time blues" I mentioned this story before on this board, I bought a 20's vintage Stella 6 string for $7 a few years back minus a bridge and nut, plus the sides and braces were all loose and popping...after ordering a replica bridge via internet ($25), some ebony to carve a nut ($5) and resorting to some yankee ingenuity to get glue into the loose braces, I strung that piece of junk up and, wham, it's 'the' guitar for slide! ...fingerpicks well, too, even though the action is set a little high w/ slide in mind...granted, cherry examples of these guitars are getting out of reach for the casual enthusiast, but investing some time and a little luck you can still find them at yard sales, flea mkts, guitar shops for an affordable price, even if you have to put some money into setup/repair you'll have a great guitar...a good place to start is Neal Harp's site stellaguitars.com...oh, and this is the guitar most of the old guys played back in the day, so you got that 'mojo' working, too...good luck, the fun is the hunt...keep us posted...PS...my .02 on Martins for blues: my experience, owning at various times 000's, 00's, M, D's in various wood and vintages, I've found they all were fine for blues picking, but lacked something when played with a slide..in some cases it was the action too low, but I, personally, haven't played a Martin with a slide that was a positive experience, especially when compared to a National or old Stella...perhaps others have had better experiences...regards --Previous Message--
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...John P...I'd strongly recommend finding an old Oscar Schimdt instrument from the 20's (Stella, Galiano etc) They're ladder braced and have a certain dry, woody sound that sustains nicely and really cuts w/ a slide...plus, they are light as a feather and retain that musty old smell that increases your skill level 20% or more ;-)
: I play two guitars: a Dean Chrome S resonator
: (which sounds great for slide and/or
: non-slide open tunings), and a Taylor
: 410ce dreadnought for non-slide (which
: sounds great for non-slide standard
: tuning).
: I also pluck around on an Ibanez dreadnought
: which doesn't sound nearly as good as
: either of the above.
: But it sounds pretty good set up for slide
: (this setup involves slightly higher
: action and heavier strings, especially in
: the high string). Set up this way, the
: Ibanez provides a nice middle ground
: between the slicing resonator sound and
: the warm dreadnought.
: I am thinking about getting another quality
: guitar and setting it up for slide (I
: would also play non-slide open tunings on
: it). Any suggestions as to some good
: ones? I have been told to consider a
: smaller guitar, maybe even a parlor model
: -- can anyone offer first-hand experience
: playing slide on one of these?
: I have heard that Martin guitars are not good
: for blues -- opinions?
: Regards,
:
:
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